Kaohsiung Success is A Good Lesson

I think we can learn a lot about the successful transformation of Kaohsiung in the past decade...

Claudia Jean has a nice blog on the story of the preparation of World Games in Kaohsiung.

This quote is quite interesting:

Prof. Lin pointed out the two main reasons which make high quality public construction work in Taiwan difficult. One is corruption where people’s representatives and civil servants at various government levels take bribes or kickbacks. Another is actually the law that is meant to prevent corruption.

Connecting this with what is happening in Taipei...it seems that there are many interesting issues that can be studied. Why is it that under KMT, there are a lot of poor construction and severe pollutions? Is it impossible to improve Taiwan? Kaohsiung showed that it is possible. It is possible to have beautiful cities in Taiwan. It is possible to clean up a stinky river. It is possible to break through and change the corrupted policies that have always plagued Taiwan. Starting from Frank Hsie, the consecutive DPP mayors of Kouhsiung continuously contribute to the improvement, and follow trough their policies, no matter the pressure. And it is not just the politicians, but a lot of engineers and officials sacrificed their reputation and life on the great task, on what they believe is right.

Comparing this to Taipei, which has a lot more money...it is real good contrast. Of course, Kouhsiung still has room for improvement, but it has taken the first most difficult step. Its success shows that...yes, with the right attitude, heart and leadership, it is possible in Taiwan.

UPDATE: This article is also very interesting...it indicates the similar problems that were mentioned by Prof. Lin: http://www.hi-on.org.tw/bulletins.jsp?b_ID=92575